"late medieval 15mm" Topic

Hello everybody,

I am quite invested in 15mm ancient, horse & musket and WWII wargaming and enjoy it. I have been thinking about maybe doing something Medieval in 15mm. I pose a few questions to expand the things to think about and get a few pointers into the right direction. I have browsed and read a few Ospreys and websites, but my knowledge is limited. I'm sure I don't know the correct terminology or evolution of all these medieval weapons and armour pieces.

Hail Caesar is what I have played with my ancients, and it is a fine system to casually throw a few dice and get a battle done in an afternoon. It doesn't specifically cater to the later medieval era, but kinda stops around 1200-something. What are the other options? I have the l'Art de la Guerre and Field of Glory books, but something more specific on medieval times is maybe more interesting?

I would be interested in the 100 years war and/or the War of the Roses. So fully plated knights, the longbow, bill and halberd.

Next up, figures? I have visited some of the manufacturers websites, but it is hard to judge from only these websites..

Thank you for reading & kind regards,

Edzard

If you want something to portray small size battles, like raids and foraging operations, then might I suggest "Lion Rampant" from Osprey link . It is really made for 25/28mm figures but you could use it for 15mm.

For larger battles, we've been having fun with "To the Strongest!" rules from BigRedBat bigredbatshop.co.uk . It uses a square gridded battlefield and playing cards to adjudicate the action. He has plenty of army lists to support building your force.

Both of these rule sets have a forum in which the authors respond to queries:

"Lion Rampant" duxrampant.yuku.com

"To the Strongest!" tothestrongest.yuku.com

Although most of my 15mm medieval forces are much earlier than your projected time period, I have figures from Miniature Figurines (available through Caliver Books caliverbooks.com ) and the old TableTop miniatures (now available through Alternative Armies link ). Both of these are UK vendors. I've seen figures from the Essex line and they are good.

Here are some posts from my blog about my 15mm medieval forces:

link

link

link

And a report about a 25mm "Lion Rampant" game I ran at a convention two years ago: link

Hope this helps.

Jim

P.S. You can also read about both rule sets in the TMP Medieval Rules Forum section.

You might consider the Peter Pig wars of the roses range. Also PP has a set of rules specifically for the wars of the roses called "bloody barons". They only cover the WOTR and therefore can bring to the fore the specific flavour of the WOTR.

I really like the PP figures and would be glad if they expanded them to include things for the rest of Europe at the time.

Most of my stuff is for earlier in the Middle Ages but I've got links to most of the 15mm Medieval figure manufacturers.
link

Edzard,

Here is a link to a gamer using Martin's Peter Pig range.

link

I love the Peter pig figures and Fat Wally has been a great inspiration for me in 15mm and the rest of his site is well worth checking out.

Almost forgot, Fat Wally plays a version of Impetus.

I would second Lion Rampant. It is the only pre 18th century game I play.

Edzard,

The club, here in Amersfoort, is acquainted with a number of medieval rules, but also enjoy DBA 3.0. The game allows for knights dismounting, mounted archers and advantages for bow and bill supporting one another.

My own collection of medieval armies are from the Legio Heroica (It.); the Burgundian and Swiss listings have all the troop types you need.
Wagons and camp items I would recommend Museum Miniatures.

Legio Heroica link
Museum Miniatures museumminiatures.co.uk

Cheers,
Robert

Guys thank you very much for all the replies so far! That is a lot to take in all at once.

I like the Peter Pig figures, but they are not really compatible with anything else?
The Legio Heroica look really good too, so I think I would try some of those.

Timurilank, Amersfoort is about an hour driving but I would be interested if we could plan something and maybe play a game? I have played a little DBA maybe 10 years ago and quite liked it.

Our club generally meets twice a week, but Friday attendance brings in the larger numbers.

Club members are a mix of fantasy (60%) and historical (30%) and board games (10%).

I host historical games at my place as I have all that is needed here; large collection of armies, terrain, and the scenarios.

Send me a note to timurilank (at) aol (dot) com with DBA Game in the subject line.

I will send details and schedules so we can plan something in the coming month.

Cheers,
Robert

I am wargaming 15mm Wars of the Roses using my own rules, Bills Bows and Bloodshed 2.1 and using a variety of figures. I like my bill and bow figures to be nicely mixed and the 15mm scale offers several opportunities.

My basic figures are Roundway which are cheap, crisp and look good. The Roundway figures all come from the Renaissance range which basically starts about 1450. I also freely mix the Burgundian, English, French bill, longbow and knights. The Scots Lowland bill and bow are handy Levy figures. I also threw in an Italian archer who has a rather nifty Tudor style hat as another soft 'levy' figure. They do an Irish Gallowglas and Kerns. But with the Gallowglas I also spotted their Polish halberdier is a dead-ringer for the Albrecht Durer drawing of Irish troops he saw in Europe. That gives me three basic Gallowglas plus a couple of Scots with two-handed swords thrown into the unit.

I then added Peter Pig. Better quality metal (pewter?) and some nice troop types although he does not do Irish and Welsh. His cavalry are (mostly) one-piece castings and there's a very nice 'king' who comes on horseback, foot and very dead.

I also use Donnington New Era which I buy as show packs (not advertised on the net) rather than the advertised single figures. His Irish kerns are good and mix well with Roundway. Some of the bill and bows are a little rough and ready (one has a head which is too small) but once they are painted and mixed in with the rest the result is a pleasing to the eye mix of positions and stances.

Some of the Peter Pig are quite melodramatic such as the knight holding his wounded comrade up, the one-legged man and a Levy with a pig under his arm. I do not use a lot of these but scattering just a couple of these around the units brings them to life. I should also mention that Peter Pig foot knights are VERY easy to paint as the figures are so shiny I just black wash the unpainted figure, do the belts and scabbards in bright colours and then varnish them. They are the best looking of my knights.

Finally a couple of Essex and a few Tin Soldier of Billericay have crept in. The Tin Soldier are a mixed bunch (avoid the crouching billmen) but the armoured cavalryman in a kettle hat is a sweetie and some of the longbow are nice.

Barry